Cataclysmic Guilds
The whole “cataclysmic this” and “cataclysmic that” won’t get old for at least another week so I’m using it until then.
I wanted to take a moment and talk about guilds. Guilds are getting a tremendous facelift in the upcoming expansion, something that is, in my opinion, long overdue.
Scott Andrews at Wow.com put it best when he said:
I’ve said before, guilds are the backbone of any MMO. They facilitate all the group content that developers spend millions to produce — the content that keeps people interested in the game and separates an MMO from your average single-player experience…Without officers who sacrifice time and energy to organize and lead their guilds, no MMO can succeed.
He is, in a lot of ways, right. WoW is a highly social game – friendships are formed, enemies are made, bonds are created and oftentimes unraveled with as much frequency as any family unit or social structure. Guilds contribute to and facilitate those bonds and, on the flip side, can aid in breaking them as well. Whether you’re a raider, a PvPer or a causal solo player, we all have experiences with guilds both good and bad. Without guilds, the world we know now would be vastly different.
Which is why I’m somewhat amused that it’s taken this long for Blizzard to revamp them or reward them in any way. Up until the expansion, all rewards and achievements are for the individual player and they can take those rewards, tabards, and pets to as many different guilds as they want to with no penalty. The only advantage, at the moment, to being in a guild is regular raiding times and raid achievements (if your guild goes for those) and raiding guilds are somewhat dependent on their core raiders staying so they strive to keep them happy.
With Cataclysm, a number of things are being implemented to reward guilds as a whole and to make their jobs a little bit easier. There’s a new “Looking for Guild” interface (which needs more work, in my opinion, but it’s a start) and, combining that with cross-server instances, recruiting may be a bit easier than the myriad of Trade Chat and Guild Recruiting spam most people resort to.
Another big change, one we don’t know a ton about yet, is the Guild Heirloom system and the Guild-only recipes/loot/etc. system. There is a lot of debate over these as people are afraid of large portions of what they own being bound to the guild. In some cases, this could work – recipes, heirlooms perhaps. However, any raid loot? I, for one, hope this isn’t the case but we shall see as more information is revealed.
The biggest change coming for guilds is the Guild Talent system. Through this system, the top 20 performers in a guild (or all members if your guild is less than 20) will earn achievement points for the guild through activities such as PvP, raiding, questing, titles, individual achievements, profession leveling, the sky is the limit. At each level, the GM will be able to put a talent point into the Guild Talent tree and earn the guild rewards such as mass resurrection on a raid wipe, no reagents for mass buffs, lower repair costs, less durability damage, etc.
On the surface, this seems like a fantastic idea and I think it could be a lot of fun. It promotes unity and teamwork – “We’re all working towards X talent because it will benefit everyone.” This is wonderful.
However, and many have raised this point, will it be the end of smaller guilds? Yes, there are a myriad of tiny guilds on every realm that really have no business being formed and would probably be much better off condensing into one big one or joining an already well-established guild. There are, though, other small guilds – the mom and pop stores of our burgeoning economy – that are small but firmly grounded, filled with skilled people and are progressing slowly but fine. Should they roll into the big corporations for the perks? Will they be penalized for not having the volume to compete with the bigger guilds? Will we see the death of small guilds through this system and the rise of mega guilds?
The other concern is for the individual player. People come and go all the time. Sometimes someone gquits in the heat of the moment, sometimes it’s a well-thought out leaving due to real life, a change in schedule or the simple desire to play with friends elsewhere be it another realm or another guild. Should the individual be penalized for leaving the guild and joining a new one? Should the guild be penalized for losing that member who contributed to the achievements?
In my opinion, you should only ever be in a guild because you want to be there – because you enjoy the people there and they add to your gameplay in a positive way. If you are staying in your guild because you feel obligated to – “my 10-man would fail without me” or, with this system, because you are getting perks – “If I leave then my repair costs will go up again” then that guild isn’t right for you. Period.
The concern with this system is that the achievements will make it harder to leave a guild, even if it’s for all the right reasons. Will people just stay in their guild even though they hate it to get perks? Maybe. Lord knows that happens now in progression guilds with folks staying for the killing and the loot.
The changes coming for the guilds are massive and will, hopefully, cause a lot of guilds to reexamine their goals, overall structure and member base. I also hope it causes people to take a good look at their guild and decide if this is the right place to invest their time and their contribution to the guild talent tree. We may see a lot of pre-Cataclysm guild shuffling as people form up with folks they enjoy playing with, or, on a darker side, guilds they feel will earn and spend talent points the quickest.
Whatever the motivation, to the individual player I say this: Yes, WoW is more than a game in a lot of ways. It’s a social avenue, a place to escape, a place to be someone or something you are not, or just a place to hang out with friends. Whatever it is for you, make sure everything that is part of that experience, especially your guild, is something that is positive in every factor. Make sure that you are with people you enjoy, a leadership you trust, and a style of play that suits you and your interests. When you lose that, WoW becomes more about obligation, irritation and general mediocrity than the initial awe-inspiring game you first began playing months or even years ago.
Never lose that.
Patch 3.2 is looming on the horizon with the (final stages?) testing on the Coliseum underway on the PTR as I type this. While the patch may not be dropping a ton in the way of new content, there are some very significant changes coming up that will require your guild, specifically your raid leaders and managers to do a little thinking.
